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I. The First Jen-Ai Clinic
(1945 ~ 1947)
¡@Start-Up |
¡@¡@Chuang-sheng Liao, founded the first "Jen-Ai
Hospital", a small clinic in Manchuria, China in June 1945. Having
graduated from Manchuria College of Medicine in 1939, Dr. Liao worked
in the Red Cross for several years, where he learned to treat the
patients with ¤¯·R "jen-ai" (which means "kind heartedness"
in Chinese), which later became part of the legacy.
¡@¡@With several years of experience in treating sickly patients, Dr.
Liao decided to open his own little clinic to fulfill his dream of
serving the medical needs of the society. At the time, Manchuria was
under Japanese Occupation and the Chinese government seemed relatively
unstable. Dr. Liao endured many hardships encountered in any start-up
venture in such a tumultuous times; but managed to earn a Ph.D. in
Dermatology, in 1946.
¡@¡@However, the operation of its first clinic in China proved to be
a short-lived one. In 1947, the Chinese government was overthrown
and Kuomingtang (KMT) Party led a mass exodus of people into Taiwan,
a small island off China. In fear of Communist regime, like many other
Chinese people at the time, Dr. Liao was forced to abandon his business
and take his family to return to his homeland (Taiwan).
II. The
Second Jen Ai Clinic (1947 ~ 1966)
¡@Start-Up |
¡@¡@Dr. Liao established himself in the city of
Taichung (his hometown) located in the central part of Taiwan and
opened the second Jen Ai Clinic. Because of the limited financial
capabilities in the beginning, the clinic was open 24 hours a day,
7 days a week. Dr. Liao even traveled on foot to patients' houses,
if the patients could not make it to his clinic. Yet, as a result
of his dedication, a rewarding doctor-patient relationship developed
¡V Dr. Liao was able to genuinely care for his patients and in turn,
his patients showed great respect for him.
¡@¡@Committed in seeing the business succeed, Dr. Liao worked extremely
hard in the clinic. And as time passed by, patient load gradually
increased and by the late 1950s, Dr. Liao began to realize that his
small clinic was no longer able to accommodate the patients, in terms
of infrastructure.
III. The First Jen-Ai
Hospital (1966 ~ Present)
¡@ Expansion / Formalization |
¡@¡@In 1962, the blue prints for Jen-Ai Hospital
(Taichung branch) were first conceived. Although the blue prints were
drawn up, Dr. Liao still struggled with the decision of whether to
build the hospital or not. Due to financial concerns (a substantial
amount of capital was required to build a hospital), Dr. Liao faced
enormous pressure to reconsider his plan.
¡@¡@Adding to his stressful situation, his father passed away, leaving
his four sons, equal shares of the entire farm. Dr. Liao, filled with
courage and determination, then decided to build "the tallest and
most advanced hospital" in Taichung, at the time. As for the capital
to start his new venture, he persuaded his three brothers to sell
their shares of the farm to him and used this spacious land as collateral
to borrow considerable amount of money from the bank. In 1966, Jen-Ai
Hospital (Taichung branch) was finally completed.
¡@¡@Upon operation of the Jen-Ai Hospital, the business was characterized
by expansion in a number of areas ¡V more employees (doctors, nurses,
and administrative staffs) were employed; variety of services (different
specialties) were provided; etc. Initially, it proved to be a difficult
task in running the hospital of this size because of the large debt
that had incurred, but Dr. Liao was able to overcome many obstacles
and the hospital business was well established.
¡@¡@In 1969, Jen-Ai Hospital secured a contract with the Labor Insurance
Organization, accepting reimbursement for medical services provided
to manual laborers; and in 1982, it secured another contract with
the Public Insurance Organization, accepting reimbursement for services
provided to the general public. Under the supervision of Dr. Liao,
who dedicated his time and energy in fulfilling his dream, Jen-Ai
Hospital grew gradually, but prosperously.
¡@¡@It wasn't until 1983 that his oldest son, Jen Liao decided to join
Jen-Ai Hospital. Having graduated from Hiroshima College of Medicine
and worked as primary care physician in Japan, Dr. Jen Liao decided
to return to Taiwan to help out with the hospital, primarily in the
management aspect. His second son, Ming-I Chan Liao, also having graduated
from Hiroshima College of Medicine and worked in Japan, joined the
business in 1985 as a doctor ¡V anesthesiologist.
¡@¡@Dr. Jen Liao was the leader, making most of the important decisions
in the hospital. He was instrumental in formalizing the organizational
structures and processes of the hospital (adding human resource management
policies, introducing professional accounting techniques, conducting
cost / benefit analysis, etc.). In short, a formal hierarchy with
different functions surfaced under his supervision.
¡@¡@He was also responsible in achieving many important accomplishments
for the hospital. In 1986, collaboration with China Medical College
(the best medical school in Taichung) was established. In 1987 and
2001, Dr. Jen Liao was also responsible in renovating the appearance
of the old hospital into a modernized facade. By 1988, Jen-Ai Hospital
was making enough profits to create a foundation to help the poor,
the old, the disabled and the children. Also in 1988, he was responsible
for computerizing many aspects of the hospital. Again in 1991, collaboration
with China Medical College's subsidiary hospital was established.
Although Dr. Liao (the patriarch) was not directly involved in the
day-to-day business, he still overlooked the entire operations of
the hospital and works as a dermatologist, even to this day.
¡@¡@By this time, Jen-Ai Hospital had become a ~ 200 bed hospital with
23 departments of various medical specialties, employing ~ 800 employees.
Jen-Ai Hospital operates its own pharmacy and a small company that
acts as a "middle company", securing contracts with other
companies doing business with the hospital.
IV. The Second Jen-Ai
Hospital (1995 ~ Present)
¡@ Renewing the Cycle |
¡@¡@Jen-Ai Hospital has survived, grown, and found
a place for itself in Taiwan's health care industry and within its
Taichung community. Dr. Liao was widely recognized as successful
and influential, adopting a highly visible role in the community
and sponsoring activities with a joint purpose of civic philanthropy
and good public relations.
¡@¡@To serve the various medical needs of the broader range of people,
a plan was proposed to construct an even bigger hospital in 1992.
Like the Taichung branch, a substantial amount of capital was needed
to carry out this size of a plan. Dr. Liao, using his influence,
enlisted the help of the Taiwanese government to have a joint venture
in constructing a 600-bed hospital in Dali, located in the outskirts
of Taichung City. To make this hospital reach its fullest potential,
the Liao family recruited many consultants in Taiwan and from Japan
to advise on this big project.
¡@¡@It was also in 1992 that the Board of Trustees was created to
transfer the leadership to the next generation. The Taiwanese law
requires that the Board of Trustees to have no less than 9 members,
with only 3 members allowed from the same family. Dr. Liao resigned
as the Superintendent, but remained as the Chairman of the Board,
while appointing Dr. Jen Liao as the new Superintendent and Dr.
Chan Liao as Vice-Superintendent.
¡@¡@After much deliberation and planning, Jen-Ai Hospital (Dali Branch)
officially opened its doors in June 1995, coinciding with the 50th
anniversary of the first clinic that started in Manchuria, China.
Dr. Liao (the patriarch) was the only employee when it first began,
but Jen-Ai Hospital now employs more than 1,350 employees and the
number seems to be increasing (Dr. Shr-Kuang Tsao, who is also Dr.
Liao's son-in-law, joined the business in 1997 and became one of
the Vice-Superintendent). What started out as a small dream led
Jen-Ai Hospital to attain this far.
¡@¡@Under the direct supervision of Dr. Jen Liao, Jen-Ai Hospital
received many distinguishing credentials. The following are some
of the major achievements, thus far:
¡PIn 1984, Ministry of Finance recognized
the hospital as having a "Complete
¡@Accounting System"
¡PIn 1987, 1990, and 1994, Department of
Health and Ministry of Education
¡@appointed the hospital as a "District Teaching Hospital"
¡PIn 1997, 2000, and 2003, Department of
Health and Ministry of Education promoted
¡@the hospital as a "Regional Teaching Hospital"
¡PIn 2000, the hospital was awarded with
the 10th Annual "Tribute to
¡@Medical Treatment¡¨ Award
¡PIn 2001, the hospital was awarded with
the 2001 "National Medical
¡@Quality" Award
¡@¡@Among other major changes, Dr. Chan Liao's oldest son, I-cheng
Chan started work as a Project Manager for Management Center in
2002, as the first in the third generation of Liao family to join
the business. And after working for Jen-Ai Hospital for 20 years,
Dr. Jen Liao stepped down from overseeing the day-to-day operations
of the hospital and Dr. Chan Liao was promoted to become the Superintendent
in March of 2003.
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